Seattle Times sports columnist Matt Calkins announced his resignation this week after the newspaper declined to publish a column he wrote featuring the perspectives of two female student-athletes opposed to competing against biological males.
Calkins, who spent 11 years as a sports columnist at the newspaper, said leaving was entirely his decision and described the unpublished column as the event that ultimately prompted his departure.
The column stemmed from the controversy surrounding recent comments by Sophie Cunningham that sparked reaction throughout the WNBA. As Cunningham’s team traveled, rallies and gatherings were held around arenas, including an event during a stop involving Seattle’s WNBA team, the Storm.
Calkins covered a group at the Seattle arena that supported Cunningham’s position on women’s athletics. While there, he interviewed two teenage girls who discussed their experiences involving biological males in female sports.
One girl had lost to a biological male during a track and field competition. Another faced harsh backlash after deciding not to compete against a male competitor.
Calkins was further prompted to write about the issue after one of the girls became the target of caustic comments from the Seattle team’s owner during the game.
In a Substack post explaining his resignation, Calkins detailed what happened after submitting his column.
According to Calkins, the piece moved beyond his editor and higher up the newspaper’s editorial chain. He then endured several days of delays before receiving a final decision.
Six days after submitting the column, Calkins said his editor informed him that the newspaper would not publish it.
He said the explanation given was that he had failed to initially tell his editor about the column idea. Calkins questioned that reasoning, particularly given that the article had spent days being reviewed by other editors.
After learning the piece had been shelved, Calkins resigned immediately.
Calkins maintained that the decision was not a spur-of-the-moment emotional reaction. He said he had already considered leaving as the delays surrounding the column continued and was prepared to resign if the situation unfolded as it eventually did.
The columnist also said this was not his first experience having a piece rejected involving controversial subjects.
Calkins said a previous column about the U.S. women’s soccer team and its pay dispute was killed. Another dealt with cancel culture in sports, while another focused on a Black coach expressing some support for police following the George Floyd controversy.
Calkins acknowledged that editors ultimately have authority over what gets published and said he understood the pressures newspaper management can face from activists.
“The mob is frightening and does not forget,” Calkins wrote, adding that people who initially appear willing to take controversial positions can change course once activists begin applying pressure.
For Calkins, however, the latest rejected column proved to be the breaking point.
“It was exactly what I was prepared to do,” he said of his decision to resign.
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